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1958 BSCC Season
The 1958 British Saloon Car Championship was the first season of the BTCC, although the season originally started on Boxing Day 1957 at Brands Hatch.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_British_Saloon_Car_Championship_season 1958 saw the first champion of the BTCC, Jack Sears, crowned in unusual circumstances at the end of the year, receiving "The Bonneville Trophy" from the British Motor Corporation (BMC).http://touringcarracing.net/Pages/1958%20BSCC.html Regulations The 1958 BSCC season ran under a set of regulations specified by the British Racing & Sports Car Club (BRSCC). These rules split the field into four categories, determined by engine size: The title would be based on a points system, with points awarded to the top three drivers in each category.http://www.btcc.net/history/in-depth/1958-1990/ At the end of the season, the driver with the highest number of points (equal for each class) would win the championship. If the final standings ended in a tie, the winner was to be decided by a coin toss. First Round: Brands Hatch (J. Davy Trophy) The first round of the 1958 BSCC season was split over two races. Held at Brands Hatch, supporting the J. Davy Trophy race for Formula Junior, Classes A and C ran in the first race, with Jack Sears winning the race in his 2.6 litre Austin A105, with David Haynes finishing second (using a Ford Zephyr) and John Sprinzel (finishing first in Class A) third on the podium. The second race, competed between Classes B and D, saw Tommy Sopwith take the flag (also winning Class D), with another Equipe Endeavour Jaguar 3.4 litre, driven by Gawaine Baillie, finishing second and a third Jaguar, with John Young at the wheel, finishing third. The only entrant in Class B, Alan Foster, failed to finish the race. Second Round: Brands Hatch The Second meeting of 1958 saw three races, again held at Brands Hatch. Despite being held on the 20th of April, a day after a number of drivers were competing at Aintree, a relatively large field arrived at the circuit. The first race of the day was competed solely by Class A entrants, with Sprinzel, driving "the scarlet Austin that is known for going improbably fast" winning that race. He had battled with "Doc" Shepherd (in another Austin A35) for the majority of the race, who ultimately finished second, while P.D. Shanks (driving a third A35) completed the podium. Race two saw Class B take to the track, although only three cars were on the circuit. Tommy Bridger took the flag in his Metcalfe & Munday run Borgward Isabella TS, from Harold Grace in his Riley 1.5, and Foster in his MG Magnette. With only three entrants in each of the other Classes (C and D), race three saw both thrown into a single race. The three Jaguars of Sopwith, Baillie and Doug Uren took the flag (in that order) in Class D, while Sears, Jeff Uren and A. Searles completed the running (in Class C). Third Round: Mallory Park The first meeting away from Brands Hatch was held at Mallory Park in Leicestershire, England, with Class A having its own race, while Classes B, C and D were thrown together. Sprinzel was able to claim his second win of the season, beating "Doc" Shepherd and Bob Gerard in the other A35s. Fred Marriot completed the field, finishing fourth in his Morris Minor, while Spinzel climbed to the top of the overall standings. Race two at Mallory Park was won by the Jaguar of Baillie, after Sopwith was forced to retire with a puncture and Grace hit the barriers at the Esses. Baillie was followed by Jeff Uren and Sears in Class C, who had battled for the majority of the race, while Les Leston became the third different winner in Class B, using a Riley 1.5. Fourth Round: Brands Hatch The BSCC returned to Brands Hatch on the 18th of May, with the same format of races as at Mallory Park. The first race, which saw Sprinzel take another win in his A35, in a race which was described as "a rather dull affair for the tiddlers." That being said, P.D. Shanks did roll his A35 in the race's only incident. Race two, with Classes B, C and D running, saw Sopwith take his third victory of the season. Baillie took second while Sears (highest finisher in Class C) joined the Jags on the podium. The Uren brothers followed Sears over the line, while Tommy Bridger took the honours in Class B. Fifth Round: Brands Hatch (F2) The Fifth meeting of the season (again at Brands Hatch) saw the BSCC run in support of a Formula 2 meeting at the Kent circuit. A larger Class A field was overcome by Sprinzel, who took a fourth successive victory ahead of Marriot and Len Adams. The field was widened by the inclusion of two Fiat 1100 TVs (driven by W.H. Ellis and R.C. Ritchie) and a Skoda 450 run by Alan Adler. Race two was won by Sopwith, although his championship campaign was checked by Sears, who finished on the overall podium again as well as winning his class. Bridger was able to win Class B for the third time that season, although he was presented with a fresh challenge from H.R. Vincent in a Wolseley 1500. Sixth Round: Crystal Palace The BSCC's second trip away from Brands Hatch saw the field gather in the capital at Crystal Palace, for the area's first ever Saloon Car race. All of the Classes were thrown together for one race, with the powerful Jaguar 3.4 litre of Tommy Sopwith taking a pole to flag victory on the street circuit. The star performer, however, was Sopwith's team mate Baillie, who wove his Jaguar from the back of the grid to second, while Jeff Uren took the honours in Class C (Sears did not take part in the meeting). "Doc" Shepherd held off Sprinzel to take victory in Class A, while Class B brought up the rear of field, as Foster took advantage of Bridger's absence to win the class. Seventh Round: Brands Hatch The field was once again brought together for another meeting at Brands Hatch, although no-one could stop Sopwith claiming victory. Sears returned to the BSCC to win his class (as well as finish on the podium) with Sprinzel taking Class A and Foster Class B. It was also a rare victory for Class B as a whole, with the entire field beating the Class A cars. Eighth Round: Brands Hatch (Kentish 100 International) Another support meeting for the BTCC, this time for the Formula 2 Kentish 100 meeting. The race was noted for the guest appearance of Graham Hill, who ran "Doc" Shepherd's A35 in the race, finishing first in Class A. Sopwith claimed the overall victory, with Sears simultaneously finishing second and winning his Class. Leston took another win in Class B, just missing out on the overall podium. Ninth Round: Brands Hatch The final meeting of the season saw Sopwith, Sears and Leston on the podium, each winning their respective classes. "Doc" Shepherd won Class A's final race, although Sprinzel still held enough of an advantage to win the Class overall. Foster's second place in Class B saw him take the Class B title, while Sears and Sopwith won Classes C and D respectively. It was the first race that had been held in wet conditions. The overall championship, however, had thrown up an unlikely result. In the event of a tie, the title was to be decided from the toss of a coin (agreed at the start of the season), although no-one had expected this to happen. However, Sears and Sopwith, having won their classes with identical records, were equal on points, leading to a potential coin toss to decide the title. The pair of drivers refused to allow the title to be decided in that manor, and an alternative method was sought. The Duel for the Title The British Automobile Company provided two Riley 1.5s (prepared by Marcus Chambers) for the pair of drivers, although it was established that one was faster than the other. A coin toss decided that Sopwith would use the faster car for the first race (as it had been decided that the final would be run over two, five lap, races).http://www.itv.com/btcc/video/1958-british-saloon-car-championship Predictably, Sopwith took the first race, winning by a margine of 2.2 seconds. The second duel, however, (with the cars swapped) saw Sears win by a margine of 4.0 seconds. This meant that Sears took the title, with an aggregate time 1.8 seconds better than Sopwith. In the rain at Brands Hatch, Sears was handed the "Bonneville Trophy" by BAC for winning the inaugural BSCC driver's championship. Entries Below is a table of all of the entrants in the 1958 BSCC championship: ** John Young used a Ford Anglia at the Second Round. Final Standings The Bonneville Trophy was the only award on offer for the BSCC's inaugural season, and the Championship went down to a tie break at the end of the season. Having discarded two results from the season so each driver had attended seven races, Jack Sears and Tommy Sopwith were tied on 48 points, with the pair agreeing to a ten lap race to decide the title. Sears won over the two legs, took the trophy and became the inaugural Champion, ahead of Sopwith with John Sprinzel falling one short of the former pair's tally. Alan Foster completed the season in fifth place overall as the best Class B participant. The final standings for the 1958 season are shown below: References Category:Seasons